(Posted October 27, 2008)

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Juniata College middle hitter Amanda Schmidt (Boswell, Pa./North Star) logged 13 kills with two blocks to lead the number one-ranked Eagle women's volleyball team to a 3-0 win over Penn State-Altoona, Monday night in Altoona, Pa.

Set scores were 25-11, 25-14, and 25-20. The match was the first-ever between the two schools on the volleyball court.

Amber Thomas (Ephrata, Pa./Conestoga Valley) and Collin Wallace (West Chester, Pa./West Chester East) tallied six kills, with Thomas recording a pair of blocks. Cassie Dickmann (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) and Molly Sollenberger (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had three service aces, while Megan Sollenberger (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had 17 digs.

Steph Strauss (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) set 17 assists for the Juniata offense, while Beth Kozak (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) had 13 assists.

"They were a very scrappy team," said Juniata head coach Larry Bock. "(PSU Altoona middle hitter) Olivia Hallahan was pretty good, and she gave us the most problems with blocking and defense. Their libero (Jess Tirko) was very, very good - one of the best we've seen all year at that position. Between the two of them, we had to really work for points. Conversely, many of their points came off our errors."

"Tonight we made a lot of hitting and serving errors we didn't have to make, that were more-or-less unforced. Those are things we're going to have to address," said Bock.

Juniata closes out its regular season this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, when it faces #2 Emory University, Lee University (Tenn)., and Birmingham-Southern College at the Emory National Challenge in Atlanta, Ga.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.